I wish we had Capitalism. All we have is an extraordinarily misdirected, poorly run welfare state.
Oh, and welfare state is not a bad word. Some of the most prosperous and equitable countries in the world are welfare states[0].
Some of the worst functioning countries on earth are also very poorly run welfare states. Feel free to point out several poorly functioning, free market Capitalism countries though.
Socialism is what gives rise to Corporatism. The intrusion of government into the economy - rather than the proper separation of the two - through regulation and bribes, opening up a flood gate of protectionism, lobbying and special favors.
I'm well aware of the arguments on the nordic model. Most of them had to reform their poorly functioning welfare models over the last few decades (see: Sweden).
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2009/0803/international-invest-...
Corporatism is a legal construction of the state: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporation#Formation
Welfare for the rich. Naked social darwinism for the poor.
Total government expenditure of USA 2013: 3.45 trillion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_United_States_federal_budg...) GDP of China in 2013: 8.3 trillion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nomin...)
If I am not mistaken, the federal spending budget includes military spending as well.
And maybe he was thinking of a China GDP number from a year or two ago. When I google "China GDP" it gives me $7.3 billion from 2011.
And "nearly" is subjective.
And most military spending is welfare, either to defense contractors or otherwise.
And your comparison isn't accurate at all. There are obvious and often massive differences between America's economic models of 1825, 1910, 1960, and 2014. 2014 isn't in any respect similar to the 1825 or 1910 versions. To argue that America in 2014 is highly Capitalistic, is to argue that Capitalism is compatible with a government system taking 40% of the economy through taxation, massive wealth redistribution, government interference in essentially every sector, nationalization (quasi or total) of core economic segments, welfare programs sprawling to hundreds of billions in cost, tens of thousands of regulations covering every field, and on and on - basically it's like saying that Capitalism can be anything. It can't, it's a specific type of model.